Canon Digital Photo Professional 3.3 - Advanced image workflow and editing, specialized in RAW conversion with a range of adjustment and output options.*

Picture Style Editor 1.2 - Create custom Picture Styles. *

* Universal Binaries (Intel / PowerPC) for Mac OS X.

RAW conversion

As is normal in our digital SLR reviews we like to compare the supplied RAW conversion software, any optional manufacturer RAW conversion software and some third party RAW converter. In the case of the EOS 450D we used the supplied Digital Photo Professional as well as Adobe Camera RAW 4.4. In this case we haven't included the more basic Canon Raw Image Task as (using the default settings) the output is nigh on identical to DPP.

JPEG - Large/Fine, Default settings

DPP - Digital Photo Professional 3.3

ACR - Adobe Camera RAW 4.4

Color reproduction

Place your mouse over the label below the image to see the color from a GretagMacbeth ColorChecker chart produced using each RAW converter. As we would expect there is no difference between JPEG from the camera and Digital Photo Professional. Adobe Camera RAW's default settings take a slightly more conservative approach to color response and has a less contrasty tone curve.

Canon EOS 450D

Compare to:

Standard

Faithful

Landscape

Neutral

Portrait

Monochrome

Adobe RGB

Sharpness and Detail

The sharpest and most detailed image was from Digital Photo Professional closely followed by Adobe Camera RAW.

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P
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G

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Resolution

These crops demonstrate that more detail is available from Digital Photo Professional and Adobe Camera RAW conversion of RAW files than can be obtained from JPEG. That said, a lot of this detail could be described as 'false' (produced beyond Nyquist), although frankly the majority of the time this is useful as it improves the appearance of 'texture'.